Warning, the internal storage is not working so you must install Rockbox on a microsd card !!

Warning, it appears that there could two types of Zen X-Fi2: one NAND based and the other SD based. I've only encountered NAND based but I would like to know if someone has a SD based one, please contact me (AmauryPouly) if you do. See below on how to determine the kind.

Most of the code has been written but we need to put pieces together. Upgrade the bootloader is a bit tricky.

Daily builts

You can download a prebuilt version of Rockbox for the Zen X-Fi2 for the build bots here: zenxfi2.zip. Unpack it to the micro-sd card you will put in the X-Fi2. It should create a .rockbox directory at the root of the sd-card. You still need to installer bootloader the first time to be able to boot rockbox.

Bootloader features

The bootloader comes with a number of features which allow to recover from potential problematic situations.

Booting to the OF

The bootloader can either boot rockbox or the OF. By default it will boot rockbox. Booting to the OF can be achieved by several combination, depending on the context:

usb unplugged

hold menu for a small time: boot to the OF

hold menu for a long time (until logo): boot to the OF in recovery mode

usb plugged

hold power for a small time: boot to the OF

hold power for a small time then menu for a long time (until logo): boot to the OF in recovery mode

Note that when usb plugged, you need to press the reset button to reboot and perform this combination.

Building the bootloader

The bootloader can be built using three different methods. The recommend one is the automatic method using RockboxUtility. The semi-automatic method requires a working cross-compiler and a copy of the Rockbox source code.

Automatic method

TIDI

Semi-Automatic method

Windows with prebuilt file

I prebuilt two complete images because producing them is a bit tricky currently, they will disappear when RbUtil? is ready for the Zen X-Fi2. First download one of those two image, pick the right type (see section at the end to determine the type)

If you are unsure about your device type, download both: the installer will pick the right one provided that they are correctly named. Then get a copy of the latest firmware installer for the Creative Zen X-Fi2, usually called ZEN_X-Fi2_PCFW_L22_1_23_01.exe. Put the downloaded images in the same directory as the installer make sure they are correctly named (firmware.sb for NAND and firmware_sd.sb for SD). Plug your device, the OF will boot, now launch the installer: it should give you the opportunity to upgrade. Check that the proposed version is not 1.23.03, it should be 1234.5678.9012 for the NAND and 9876.5432.1098 for the SD. If you don't see those number, it will not work.

Linux + Windows

a copy of the latest firmware installer for the Creative Zen X-Fi2, ZEN_X-Fi2_PCFW_L22_1_23_01.exe.

First you need to compile the bootloader, to do this follow the instructions from HowToCompile and when running the configure script, select the Creative Zen X-Fi2 and bootloader build. After the build, you should get a bootloader-zenxfi2.creative file (you don't need to go further than the 5. Build step in HowToCompile).

Then you need to build the mkimxboot tool in rbutil/mkimxboot. To do so, just cd into rbutil/mkimxboot and run make. It should produce a mkimxboot executable.

Finally, you need to run the tool with the correct parameters. Assuming you are in rbutil/mkimxboot, run:

You should replace creative-installer.exe by the path to the firmwareinstaller you downloaded from Creative (like ZEN_X-Fi2_PCFW_L22_1_23_01.exe), and replace bootloader-zenxfi2.creative by the path to the bootloader-zenxfi2.creative file produced by the compilation.

NOTICE

If you have a sd based device, firmware.sb should be renamed to firmware_sd.sb

This is where you need windows: put the firmware.sb file produced somewhere available for Windows. Reboot to Windows (or use another computer). Put firmware.sb in the same directory as the Creative installer (something called ZEN_X-Fi2_PCFW_L22_1_23_01.exe). Now run the installer and do a normal firmware upgrade: the installer will use the firmware.sb file you put instead of the standard one ! Note that you can use a virtual machine with Windows on it for this step. If you already have rockbox installed, you will need to enter recovery mode or the OF to successfully upgrade.

Recovery procedure

If for any reason your device doesn't work anymore (doesn't boot, stuck in the bootloader and even the OF doesn't work or if a firmware upgrade failed). You might need to recover your device. You should not attempt this without an advice from someone knowledgeable. The point of the recovery procedure is too reinstall the OF and will remove any trace of the rockbox bootloader.

Linux

You will to download the Rockbox source code and build a utility program. You do NOT need to have a working cross compiler, not to build rockbox executable. See HowToCompile to download the source code. Then go into utils/imxtools/sbtools/ and run make. You will need the development version of the libusb-1.0 library. when done, you should have (among others) a tool called utils/imxtools/sbtools/sbloader. You will also need to build the mkimxboot tool by going into rbutil/mkimxboot and running make, producing an executable called rbutil/mkimxboot/mkimxboot.

Next you will need to download latest firmware installer for the Creative Zen X-Fi2 (see above sections). You need to determine your device type (NAND vs SD) using section below. Next run this one of these command to extract the firmware from the updater (replace the updater name by the path to your downloaded updater):

The utility should end with result 0 and produce the firmware_sb.sb or firmware_nand.sb file. Finally upload this file to the device using sbloader (replace firmware.sb by the correct file depending on the type):

sbloader 0 firmware.sb

The Creative OF is now running but the firmware itself has not been written yet. To complete the recovery, you need to do a complete firmware upgrade. You have two solutions, depending on your setup:

With Windows in a virtual machine

You will need to have a virtual machine running Windows. Don't unplug your device (which is still running Creative OF) and give it to the virtualised Windows. Next run the Creative updater in the guest Windows to do a complete upgrade.

With Linux tools

You will need to build some more tools: go into utils/imxtools/scsitools/ and run make.

Those tools are not finished yet

Windows

Unfortunately, there is no native Windows "only" solution. You will need to proceed as for the Linux version to extract the firmware_sd.sb or firmware_nand.sb file. You can build them using MinGW? or Cygwin (see DevelopmentGuide). Alternatively, you can download the prebuilt rockbox bootloader files from the above section, in which case you will have to hold power when running sb_loader to boot the OF and not rockbox.

You cannot use sbloader in our trunk because it is Linux-only. Fortunately, Freescale has a Windows version of this utility called IMX_SB_LOADER. Go to freescale website, search for IMX233, go to Software/Tools tab, you will find it in the Programmers section. Alternatively search for "IMX_SB_LOADER" on Google. Next upload the firmware to the device this way (replace firmware.sb by the proper name)

sb_loader -f firmware.sb

You device you now boot Creative OF and you can do a complete firmware upgrade using Creative updater.

NAND vs SD: how to determine type ?

You can determine the type by looking at the model number, written on the back of the device